1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the art of servicing internal combustion engines and more particularly to a novel engine conditioning apparatus and conditioning method for priming and cleaning internal carbon deposits and related residue and contaminants from such engines.
2. Related Applications
Reference is made to my copending application Ser. No. 07/666,390, filed Mar. 8, 1991, and entitled Method and Apparatus For Cleaning Deposits and Residue From Internal Combustion Engines.
3. Prior Art
This invention and that disclosed in my above referenced copending application are concerned with curing certain well known operating problems associated with internal combustion engines including both carburetted engines and fuel injected engines. One of these problems resides in the fact that during engine operation, deposits of carbon and related residue and contaminants, hereafter referred to simply as carbon deposits, form on the internal engine surfaces including, particularly, the internal carburetor fuel port surfaces of carburetted engines and the internal fuel injector surfaces of fuel injected engines. Unless removed at regular intervals, these carbon deposits can build up sufficiently to seriously degrade engine performance and possibly even totally clog at least the relatively small fuel passages in fuel injectors and carburetors.
Various engine conditioning procedures and systems have been devised for removing such internal carbon deposits. One known engine conditioning procedure, for example, involves disassembly of an engine and individual cleaning of the engine parts. This engine cleaning procedure is obviously complex, time consuming, costly, and requires the services of highly skilled personnel. Never-the-less, the procedure has one inherent advantage. This advantage resides in the fact that it solves one problem involved in all carbon removal procedures, namely reliable determination of the effectiveness of the carbon removal procedure, i.e. reliable determination of the cleanliness of the engine fuel passages. Thus, disassembly of the engine permits direct inspection of the engine parts and thereby accurate visual determination of their cleanliness.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,348 discloses an alternative engine conditioning procedure which eliminates the need to disassemble the engine and thereby the disadvantages of such disassembly. This alternative conditioning involves the circulation of a carbon cleaning or disolving agent through the engine.
Another problem involved in the conditioning of internal combustion engines, particularly diesel engines and other fuel injected engines, to remove their internal carbon deposits is loss of prime as a result of entrance of air into the engine fuel lines during connection of the conditioning apparatus to and disconnection of the conditioning apparatus from the engine fuel system. The existing carbon removal procedures and apparatus of which I am aware do not solve this problem, at least in an effective manner.
My above referenced copending application discloses an improved engine conditioning method and apparatus for both removing internal carbon deposits from internal combustion engines, particularly from the fuel injectors of fuel injected engines and from the carburetors of carburetted engines, and priming the engine. The invention disclosed in my prior application cleans carbon deposits from an internal combustion engine by circulating through the engine fuel system, while the engine is running, a combustible engine conditioning or cleaning fuel capable of both cleaning carbon deposits from the engine and powering the engine by combustion in the engine cylinders. This conditioning fuel flows through and cleans internal carbon deposits from the engine fuel system, including, particularly, its fuel pump and fuel input means, i.e. fuel injectors or carburetor, after which the conditioning fuel is introduced into and combusted in the engine cylinders to power the engine.
The preferred engine conditioning apparatus disclosed in my copending application is designed for quick connection to and disconnection from an automobile internal combustion engine of the kind whose fuel pump delivers fuel at a rate exceeding the total fuel inflow rate into the engine cylinders. The excess fuel output from the fuel pump is utilized to cool and lubricate the fuel pump and the fuel input means, i.e. fuel injectors or carburetor, as the case may be, and is then recycled back to the engine fuel pump. The diesel engine system described in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,465 is such an engine system. In this patented engine system, the recycled excess fuel from the engine is combined, within a fuel relay valve or manifold, with incoming fresh fuel from the engine fuel tank.
Another feature of the engine conditioning invention disclosed in my copending application resides in its inclusion of a priming pump for priming the engine with normal engine fuel only or with the combustible engine conditioning fuel by feeding the engine fuel or conditioning fuel, as the case may be, to the engine fuel pump. This priming pump is operable to initially pump the fuel to the engine to start the engine after which the engine fuel pump takes over to pump conditioning fuel through the engine. In the case of an engine whose fuel pump delivers excess fuel for cooling and lubricating purposes, the excess fuel is returned to a fuel receiver and is then recycled back to the engine.